OUTSTANDING ISSUES FOR CONSIDERATION AT THE TENTH SESSION OF THE WORKING GROUP
I. CATEGORY (Issues broached during the ninth meeting but not yet concluded)
The title Convention on Access to Environmental Information and Public Participation in Environmental Decision-making [Convention on Citizens' Environmental Rights] [Convention on Access to Environmental Information, Public Participation and Access to Justice]
Article 2 (b) [(iv) The institutions of any regional economic integration organization referred to in article 16 which is a Party to this Convention; and]
This definition does not include bodies [or institutions] acting in a judicial or legislative capacity;
Article 4, paragraph 4 (d) The confidentiality of commercial and industrial information, [if disclosure of the information would cause significant financial damage to an economic interest and] where such confidentiality is protected by law;
The aforementioned grounds for refusal shall be interpreted in a restrictive way taking into account [whenever possible][where possible] the public interest served by disclosure.
Article 5, paragraph 9 [9. Each Party shall progressively establish, taking into account international processes where appropriate, a coherent, nationwide system of pollution inventories or registers on a structured computerized and publicly accessible database compiled through standardized reporting.] Such a system may include inputs, releases and transfers of a specified range of substances and products, including water, energy and resource use, from a specified range of activities to environmental media and to on-site and off-site treatment and disposal sites.
Article 6 [Each Party, for reasons of national defence or security, may decide not to apply the provisions of this article to activities listed in annex I.]
Article 8, the title
PUBLIC PARTICIPATION DURING THE PREPARATION OF EXECUTIVE REGULATIONS AND GENERALLY APPLICABLE LEGALLY BINDING RULES Or PUBLIC PARTICIPATION DURING THE PREPARATION OF GENERALLY APPLICABLE LEGALLY BINDING NORMATIVE INSTRUMENTS
Article 10, paragraph 3 [3. The Meeting of the Parties may, as necessary, establish financial rules on a consensus basis.]
Article 10, paragraphs 4 and 5 [4. The United Nations, its specialized agencies and the International Atomic Energy Agency, as well as any State or regional economic integration organization entitled under article 16 to sign this Convention which is not a Party to this Convention, and any intergovernmental organization qualified in the fields to which this Convention relates, shall be entitled to participate [without the right to vote] [as observers] at the meetings of the Parties.
5. Any non-governmental organization, qualified in the fields to which this Convention relates, which has informed the Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Europe of its wish to be represented at a meeting of the Parties shall be entitled to participate [without the right to vote] [as an observer] unless at least one third of the Parties present in the meeting provide objections. The rules of procedure referred to in paragraph 2 (h) of this article shall provide for practical arrangements for the admittance procedure and other relevant terms.]
Article 14 In the third line of paragraph 4 replace: "they" by: "[Amendments to this Convention other than those to an annex]"
[5. (a) Any Party that is unable to approve an amendment to an annex to this Convention shall so notify the Depositary in writing within twelve months from the date of the communication of the adoption. The Depositary shall without delay notify all Parties of any such notification received. A Party may at any time substitute an acceptance for its previous notification and, upon deposit of an instrument of acceptance with the Depositary, the amendments to such an annex shall become effective for that Party;
(b) On the expiry of twelve months from the date of its communication by the Depositary referred to in subparagraph (a), an amendment to an annex shall become effective for those Parties which have not submitted to the Depositary a notification in accordance with the provisions of subparagraph (a) above provided that at least [...... ] Parties have not submitted such a notification;]
Article 14 bis (will be 15 in the consolidated draft) [The Parties, at their first meeting, shall consider the establishment of a procedure and institutional mechanism for determining compliance with the provisions of this Convention.][The procedure may include the consideration of communications from members of the public, subject to the jurisdiction of a Party, who claim that their rights under this Convention have been violated.]
Annex I
Item 19 [- Waste and dangerous substances: (a) Provision of services in respect of the carriage of waste and dangerous substances, including hazardous and radioactive waste and substances, if the provision of such services requires a permit under national legislation; (b) Transboundary movements of: (i) Hazardous and radioactive waste, (ii) Other waste; (c) Internal movements, above any threshold which may be established, taking into account the objectives of this Convention, under national legislation of: (i) Hazardous and radioactive waste, (ii) Other waste: provided that, in respect of the movements referred to in (b) and (c), a specific permit or decision is required under national legislation for each such movement or group of movements;] [- Deliberate release into the environment, and contained use, of genetically modified organisms, where subject to a regulatory procedure.]
Item 21 [21. The provision of article 6, paragraph 1 (a) does not apply to any of the above projects undertaken exclusively or mainly for the development and testing of new methods or products for less than two years [unless they hold the potential for causing irreversible effect on environment and health]].
Item 22 [22. Any change or extension of activities listed in this annex which may have a significant impact on the environment or meets the criteria set out in this annex shall be subject to article 6, paragraph 1 (a). Any change or extension of activities not listed in annex I shall be subject to article 6, paragraph 1 (b).]
II. CATEGORY (Issues which have been proposed at the ninth session but not yet fully discussed)
Preamble The proposal by REC to insert a new recital in the preamble:
"Recognizing the desirability for legislative bodies to include public participation in their proceedings, and calling upon them to uphold the principles of this Convention,"
Article 2 The proposal by the Environmental NGOs Coalition to add a new definition in article 2:
"Proposed activity" means an activity subject to a decision or decisions of a competent authority: (a) For construction; (b) For operation; (c) For construction and operation; as the case may be, in accordance with an applicable national procedure or procedures; and "proposed activities" shall be construed accordingly.
Article 3 The proposal by the delegations of Hungary and the Netherlands to add a new paragraph in article 3:
"Within the scope of the relevant provisions of this Convention, the public shall have access to environmental information, and have the possibility to participate in environmental decision-making and access to justice without discrimination as to citizenship, nationality or domicile." and to delete article 4, paragraph 1 (a), and article 9, paragraph 6.
In this context, the proposal by the delegation of Finland and the Environmental NGOs Coalition to add the following words to article 4, paragraph 1 (b), and article 9, paragraph 6 (or the proposed new paragraph in article 3) should be considered:
", where an organization has its registered seat or the effective centre of its activities in the territory of that Party."
Article 6 The proposal by the Chairman to add a new paragraph to article 6:
"A member of the public shall have the right to participate in environmental decision-making within the scope of this article without discrimination as to citizenship, nationality or domicile."
Proposal by the delegation of the United Kingdom to add a new paragraph in article 6:
[1. Each Party, for reasons of national defence or security, may decide not to apply the provisions of this article to activities listed in annex I.]
or, alternatively, to add to annex I the following footnote:
Each Party may decide to exclude activities from this annex for reasons of national defence or security.
Article 6, paragraph 6 The proposal by EC:
Add to article 6, paragraph 6, in the second line after the words "upon request" the following words: ", where so required under national law,"
Add at the end of paragraph 6:
"As a minimum such information shall be:
(a) A description of the site and physical and technical characteristics of the proposed activity, including an estimate of the expected residues and emissions;
(b) A description of the significant effects of the proposed activity on the environment;
(c) A description of the measures envisaged to prevent and/or reduce the effects, including emissions;
(d) A non-technical summary of the above;
(e) An outline of the main alternatives studied by the developer, if applicable.
Proposal of the delegation of the Netherlands to add to article 6 in addition to the proposal of the EC:
(f) Reports and advice, issued to the public authority by governmental or other advisory bodies, with regard to the assessment of the proposed activity.
Article 6, paragraph 7 The proposal by EC:
Add in the second line after the words "at a public hearing or inquiry" the words "with the applicant"
Article 7 The delegation of France proposes that the first line should read: "Each Party shall make appropriate practical provisions ..."
Article 8 The proposal by the delegation of Denmark: Amend article 8, paragraph 1, as follows:
1. In the first sentence, delete "strive to" 2. In the first sentence after "public participation" insert "through organizations concerned, including non-governmental organizations" 3. Replace in the sentence the words "should be taken" by "shall be considered"
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